Book of Proceedings I PetFeeding

45
Feeding and nutrition of the dog: from young adult to geriatric
Cecilia Villaverde
Expert Pet Nutrition, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
Introduction
Feeding healthy dogs requires the provision of a diet that is specific (for dogs), adequate
(complete and balanced), safe (free of contaminants, toxins, and pathogens), and palatable.
This diet must be fed in sufficient amounts to maintain a stable body weight (BW) and an
ideal body condition score (BCS).
Energy requirements
There are a variety of formulas that provide the energy requirements of adult dogs, see NRC
(2006). FEDIAF (2017) and Gross et al. (2010), depending on the lifestyle, age, and breed of
the dogs. These formulas are all empirical and based on metabolic BW (kg 0.75 ) and they have
an associated error that can be very high. These equations are for daily energy requirements,
thus including basal metabolic rate, thermogenesis, thermic effect of food, and physical
activity.
Effect of breed
Some breeds are prone to obesity, which suggests that there might be differences in either
their drive to eat (which has been shown in Labrador Retrievers by Raffan et al., 2016) or
their energy requirements.
Effect of neutering
Neutering is clearly a risk factor for obesity (Larsen and Villaverde, 2016. It has been
suggested that sterilization results in an increased food and energy intake (Jeusette et al.,
2004), but there is no clear described effect on basal metabolic rate. Neutering seems to have
an effect on voluntary physical activity (Schauf et al., 2016), which could be the drive for the
lower energy needs described in castrated dogs (Bermingham et al., 2014; Thes et al., 2016).
Effect of activity
In the above mentioned meta-analysis, Bermingham et al. (2014) found that racing dogs had
higher energy requirements than pet and kennel dogs, with working and hunting dogs falling
in the middle.
Effect of age
Even though some studies have found that older dogs have lower energy requirements than
young adults (Thes et al., 2016), the Bermingham et al. (2014) did not identify this finding,
but likely due to the small sample size. Obesity is more common in middle aged dogs vs
young adults, which supports the theory that older dogs have lower energy needs, likely